Meet WooKong 3.0

The Beast of the NEice Fleet – Built to meet the demands of flying, photographing and filming in the winter weather of the Northeast.

After two winters of  building, flying and filming with RC helicopters, I have learned a lot and had a ton of fun.  But, it wasn’t enough, I needed more. I needed a better machine to complete my dream. I realized first I needed a better camera. The Gopros are light and very durable and have served us well, but they have many shortfalls. The lens is too wide. It leaves climbers looking like they are a mile away unless the drone is right on top of them. The camera is also not good in variable lighting conditions.  It can’t handle fast changing or low light, where the only settings you have for creativity and enhancement is ‘ON!’  Here is where the Sony NEX-5N is far better.

The Sony NEX-5N 16.1 MP

This new camera is great. It gives DSLR quality still images up to 10 fps. When it comes to video, it pulls in full AVCHD at 60p with a 16.1 MP Exmor APS HD CMOS image sensor.  A Sony E-mount 18-55mm F3.5-5.6 lens rounds out this camera set-up providing NEIce with the lightest DSLR quality camera you can put in the air.  I can now point the camera up or down, rotate it, take a photo and turn on and off the video, seeing it all from my radio controller. Finally, I feel like I can properly film the action I have been dreaming of. The difference in quality still amazes me!

Last year we just turned the GoPro on, sent it up and hoped for the best. Courtney Ley, who edits footage for us, will be excited this year. With the remote I can activate video recording whenever I want to start and end, eliminating all the takeoffs, landings and other useless footage, saving her hours of editing time in front of the computer.

The still images are just as exciting, with the cameras’ ability to shoot RAW and  JPEG Fine files simultaneously. Plus, good photos require good glass. I now have many options with the wide variety of Sony E-mount lenses available.

But, getting the new camera also meant I now needed a bigger helicopter to lift it.  Putting all I have learned into this new build, I considered many factors in the new design – wind, power, reliability and flight time. The machine is a dream to fly and fulfills everything I have been looking for, lifting the Sony Nex5N with ease. In the past, wind was one of the biggest problems we encountered at the crags while filming.  I have flown the new WooKong in 25+ mph winds without a problem. You can see this was not the case with early models as this footage in Huntington Ravine reveals.

With eight motors spread out above the Sony, I now have reliability and lift. I can lose an engine without crashing dramatically into the ice and hemlock.  As entertaining as it might be to watch,  it’s usually not ideal footage. Many pilots flying Octocopters report not knowing that an engine was out till they land. As the gear and cameras get more costly, redundancy and backup of critical components becomes more important.

Now that I had the increased power I wanted, came the need for bigger batteries. I decided to invest in three 16,000 mAh batteries ($250 ea) that will give our bird 10 minutes of flight per power pack – twice as long as Wookong 2.0.  That’s plenty of time to film what I want and …believe me, when flying in the cold and snow, 10 minutes can seem like an eternity.

The Black Pearl 7″ High Definition LCD Screen

Last year, I found the goggles were too restrictive and hindered my ability to keep the helicopter safe and out of trouble. So, with the new rig on the flight pad, a new way of keeping connected with what was going on in the air was needed.  A new high definition monitor is my dashboard and the OSD (on screen display) system gives me vital feed back, such as height, speed, rate of rise and descent.  That’s right, now I can compose the photos and video from the ground, and still keep an eye on the conditions around me. I can also double-check the camera information to make sure I am shooting with the right settings.

Since it first lifted off early this summer, I have logged over 100 flights with WooKong 3.0. Posted below are a few photos I have taken during tuning and testing.  The photos and video just keep getting better with more training flights. I am light years ahead of where I started two years ago with smoother video and sharper stills.  I can’t wait to start filming winter and ice climbing  in the Northeast and bringing it to you here at NEIce.com.  UP!

Testing at Twin Mt. – Photo by Alden Pellett

Work in progress: I am configuring a new gimbal that will have different settings for different lenses and a finer resolution. 

WooKong 3.0 – Some Test Photos

*Click photos to enlarge.

~Doug Millen

by Doug Millen

The most advanced RC Helicopter I have built to date

Building helicopters is fast becoming my main addiction (like I need another). It has been one of the hardest and most challenging things I have done in my life. Building and flying helicopters in the mountains is no easy task. Every trip we have failures, but we learn from our mistakes. I have made a lot of mistakes since we started but the helicopters just keep getting better and so do my flying skills.

This is the fifth helicopter I have built. This one is made completely from scratch and of my own design. I have incorporated the best features I have seen and I am using the ARDU auto pilot system APM 2.0. APM is the world’s leading open source UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle) autopilot. It’s basically a robot that flies!

ARDU will know where he is, how to get home and able to run a mission with many way points, all on his own. Plus he will be sending back live video and filming with a GoPro Hero 3.

This rig will have all I am looking for (I hope) and teeth for the mountain winds. Here is a video of me fighting the wind in Huntington Ravine with the “Pocket Kong”. Clearly more power is needed for control.

It all starts with an idea and a drawing. I had been thinking for awhile what my next build would be. I would incorporate all I have learned over the winter. The plan was to make a Quad copter for stability and with enough power to battle the mountain winds and be able to survive a crash with minimal damage.  The helicopter must be easy to repair and parts readily available because, “you’re gonna crash” and  break some parts. That’s a given. It must also be easy to transport and backpack to where we want to be. UP high!

Below is my latest effort to get even closer to that perfect helicopter I have envisioned in my mind.

Building ARDU

Planing for the main controller (MC), GPS and radio Receivers.

Planing how the engine speed controllers (ESC’s) will fit into the frame, a very tight space.

The layout of the MC, Receivers and Telemetry for ARDU on the top deck.

The main frame cut out and ready for sanding. I used 1/4″ marine plywood. It’s what I had around and should work great.

Cutting out the poplar motor arms to receive the motor mounts. Wood is a good material for helicopters. It is light, strong, cheep and vibration resistant.

The motor mounts ready to be glued to the arms.

Gluing the plywood motor mounts to the arms.

Gluing the side rails to the main frame.

The Frame is ready for some paint and final assembly. Notice that the arms will fold back and hit the wood stops during a crash. This helps absorb energy. I got this trick from  building my Tri copter “Woody”. It works great!

All the components ready to put together, I hope everything fits!

A coat of paint to protect the wood and make it look cool.

The main power distribution board with ESC’s attached. A big power system (30A ESC’s) to battle the winds.

The bullet ends of the ESC’s  need to be soldered on and then shrink wrapped.

The motors mounted and ready to go. The motors are held in place with zip ties, the weak link in a crash. The motors just break the ties and eject instead of letting the force damage the motors. I used the Avroto M 2814-11 Short Shaft 770KV Brushless Motors for this build. A good, strong and reliable motor.

A tight squeeze for the ESC’s and Power Supplies. It’s going to be hot in there  in the summer, so I need to figure out how to vent it. I have installed a temperature sensor to keep an eye on the heat. It could be a problem, but not in the weather we like to fly in.

ARDU ready for the final test assembly

ARDU 1.0

ARDU 1.0 ready for programming, testing and tuning.  A sweet looking unit.  I can’t wait to fly it!

I hope it doesn’t smoke when I plug it in!

Stay tuned for part two – The Programming and Testing of  “ARDU”